Episode Review - Sleeping Dogs
Reviewed by Andy Taylor

Synopsis

When the Enterprise comes across a shipwrecked Klingon vessel, T’Pol, Sato and Reed struggle to survive the exploration of it, while Archer has diplomatic problems with a bewildered Klingon female.

Whilst he is helping Sato to hone her phase pistol skills, Reed discovers that he is slowly becoming ill. However, before much else is done the Enterprise unexpectedly drops out of warp. The crew have discovered a gas giant – something T’Pol believes the crew should not be interested in – after all; the Sol System contains four of them. However this particular planet is a class nine gas giant, something that Archer cannot resist stopping to look at. He orders a probe be launched into the planet’s atmosphere, which relays transmissions back to the ship that Mayweather calls ‘siren calls’ – something his dad used to play throughout his freighter whenever he encountered them. In fact, they used to give him nightmares! Soon enough, however, T’Pol detects an anomalous power signature in the lower atmosphere of the planet, therefore leading Archer to order the probe to take a closer look.

Meanwhile, Reed discovers that he has caught a cold – despite being able to travel at warp speed, humans still cannot find a cure for it! Phlox orders that he gets some rest, but Reed informs him that he has to be on the away team that explores the shipwrecked vessel, which was the original anomalous reading.

Meanwhile Sato asks Archer if she can be included on that particular away team. She knows she hasn’t always been first in line for missions, but feels that she is now ready. Archer says that it’s a good job that she wants to come along – T’Pol has assigned her to the team anyway. When Reed, T’Pol and Sato are getting ready to board the vessel, Sato still finds herself paranoid – she is checking her spacesuit’s safety features are all working, just in case if something was to happen. She also mentions that she used to find the suits claustrophobic, yet nevertheless, she’s ready. They then take off in a shuttlepod.

The team descends the atmosphere of the gas planet, but they find that the shipwreck is being pulled further to the planet’s centre by gravity – they determine that they have an hour at most to find out what happened. Unexpectedly, they enter an eddy of liquid helium that causes problems. As soon as they pass through it, Sato (prematurely) states that it wasn’t so bad…

Upon entering the vessel, T’Pol determines that the atmosphere is a breathable nitrogen/oxygen combination. Reed takes his helmet off to test the findings, and believes it to be OK – until Sato and T’Pol take off their helmets and find a quite offensive smell – obviously Reed’s cold is helping him in this situation. When the team discovers some writing on a bulkhead, Sato determines that the ship they’re on is Klingon. T’Pol did not notice this – she says that there are many classes of Klingon ship, and that she was unfamiliar with this design – she therefore does not know the standard crew complement. Faint lifesigns are then detected, indicating that there are still Klingons onboard. T’Pol then insists that they leave whilst the crew is still unconscious. Reed totally objects, saying that the atmosphere will crush the crew. T’Pol says that a rescue would likely dishonour them, yet Reed does not want to just leave them to die. Whilst his compassion is admirable, T’Pol says it is misguided – the Klingons would kill them. Unbeknownst to them then, a Klingon woman emerges…

T’Pol reports the situation to Archer. They only have around thirty minutes left; Archer gives them twenty to find out what they can and return to the ship. T’Pol argues that nothing can be done in twenty minutes, but is then cut off before the point can be argued properly. The away team then discusses whether some sort of rescue attempt is plausible – however, the Klingon woman is approaching them. The always trigger-happy Reed is ready to anticipate her approaches, but is surprised by her – she then escapes using their shuttlepod.

Archer tries to re-establish contact with T’Pol but has no luck. However, Mayweather notices that the away team’s shuttlepod is leaving the planet. Hailing the shuttlepod only reveals the Klingon woman hailing for help from nearby Klingons, saying that it was the Enterprise that attacked the now shipwrecked vessel. After failing to make contact again, Archer orders the grappler to be fired to stop it from getting away, and he then orders Security to intercept the woman. He then asks for the coordinates of the shipwreck – he intends to get his crew back. The vessel has ‘sunk’ too far though – it is now below the shuttlepod’s safety range Archer therefore orders the hull to be polarised so that the Enterprise itself can go after them.

The away team, meanwhile, is trying to work out how to escape themselves – T’Pol states bluntly that Klingons do not have escape pods after Sato suggests them. She therefore begins to translate the Klingon control panels to find a navigation system. She does come across something called ‘photon torpedoes,’ which fascinates Reed and is something he would love to read up on if they had time. Something else the three discover is that the ship only has a few hours of structural integrity left, making their plight much more urgent. The helm is eventually found. However it is unresponsive. Sato translates that the fusion manifolds’ pressure is falling, meaning, as Trip would say, that they are ‘dead in the water.’

Archer finally makes contact and reassures them that they will be rescued by Enterprise. Mayweather still has ten thousand meters to drop, but is experiencing trouble with getting a fix on the team. The pressure then destroys the probe they were using (that was launched earlier), just as the hull plating begins to fail – their only option is to retreat for now, again leaving the away team stranded.

Meanwhile, Phlox finds a neurotoxin in the captured Klingon female, which, untreated, will kill her soon. She also has hypothermia… Archer tries talking to her, noticing that it is not hard to become enemies of the Klingon Empire – she then accuses him of infecting her crew with the neurotoxin. Archer asks her for help – her ship is about to be destroyed, and his away team will die. However, she would rather than happen than for the ship to fall into human hands. She says that when Klingon reinforcements arrive, Enterprise will be destroyed. Archer turns to Trip to find out how they can get the away team to safety. He suggests that a shuttlepod fitted with duratanium braces would reinforce its hull, which should then be strong enough to descend the planet’s atmosphere. It is either that, he says, or they have to somehow repair a broken down Klingon ship.

Sato comes across a message left by the Klingon captain, who was unhappy at having the dishonour of dying, trapped within a planet’s atmosphere, being thrust upon him. Reed then decides that they should find the port fusion injector – Sato remembers the location of this from a translated screen. In Engineering, they find several injured Klingons as well as the injector.

Back on Enterprise, Archer is unhappy at his request for help from the Klingon – in her eyes now, that has made him look weak. He tells Trip that each of the three times they have encountered Klingons, they’ve wanted to kill them, and he wants to know why. He suggests that it must be generations of instinct telling them not to trust anything. Trip says that he should think like a Klingon to get some answers.

On the Klingon vessel, Reed accidentally burns his hand – he is dehydrating and becoming light-headed. Meanwhile it is the smell of decomposing Klingon food that is overwhelming Sato – the discovery of a live targ is also shocking. She is annoyed at her anxiety, yet T’Pol says that it is understandable, for a human. She cannot deny her nature. Sato says that sometimes she is envious of T’Pol, and often wants to bury her emotions herself. T’Pol offers some help – she offers her hand to Sato, who takes it, and tells her to close her eyes. She must think of herself on a turbulent ocean, surrounded by waves. She must picture herself with the power to control the waves. Sato interrupts, telling T’Pol that it isn’t working. T’Pol tells her to focus – the water is steadying; Sato is in control. As a result, she feels much better – T’Pol offers to teach her how to do it alone when they are back on Enterprise. Reed interrupts – the hull pressure is critical.

Archer meanwhile is taking a crash-course in Klingon culture to understand his enemy better – the Vulcan database has over nine hundred pages on them. He says that they have a warrior mentality, that they view anyone they meet as a threat, and that they have a strong sense of duty. They also believe in death before dishonour… Phlox revives the woman, and also has an antidote for the infection. Archer then directly probes how the Klingons became infected – through alcohol. The Klingon woman replies – they had just raided a vessel. Archer suggests that it went badly, but the woman reacts angrily, and talks of how it really went, upholding her honour. They had alcohol to celebrate – Zeretine ale. Archer says it was this that infected her and her crew – he asks her when she became ill (which happens to be after she drank the alcohol), and suggests that the rest of the crew drank it as well, allowing the infection to spread throughout the ship. He then says that he could have enough of the antidote created to treat the rest of her crew – if she was willing to help. She says that it is some sort of trick, but Archer counters the claim – what if it wasn’t a trick? She would be letting her crew die a dishonourable death when she could have saved them.

Meanwhile, the away team are detonating photon torpedoes to move the ship up through the atmosphere. However, the ship is not moving far or fast enough – the torpedoes need to be detonated closer to the ship to move it further. T’Pol is worried about the hull, but Reed then proceeds to loading two torpedoes for further push. Archer and the Klingon set out to find the shipwreck, as the ship moves up a bit more but still not enough. Sato suggests firing them all for even more push, but T’Pol doubts they will survive. Sato wants to take the risk – if they don’t do anything, they’ll be crushed anyway. She even says they should be detonated five hundred meters from the hull! The shockwave from this latest blast even hits Archer’s shuttlepod, but they are now able to offer help to the now-rising shipwreck. The Klingon woman – Bu’cha, sets about with helping to repair the injector.

They manage to get the ship back to safety and the crew is revived, but when Archer is back on the Enterprise, the Klingons tell them to surrender as they charge their weapons. Archer says that they wouldn’t last ten seconds in a battle with Enterprise, and tells them to take whatever honour they have left and go home. Disgusted, the Klingons finally leave. Enterprise does the same.

In the spa-like decontamination room, Reed, T’Pol and Sato are finally able to relax. When their decontamination period is over, Reed and Sato convince T’Pol to tell Phlox she is developing a headache, and therefore should have another period. Phlox notes her 'complaints' and allows another decontamination period The three are then allowed to relax in an environment that is clean, does not smell, and is even described as pleasant by T’Pol.

Summary
Well thankfully this scene, that I originally squirmed at when I saw the bright lighting and scantily clad trio suddenly appear on screen, didn’t contain any suspicious gel, rubbing or heated arguments, and in fact seemed a bit more realistic than the infamous debut of the decon room back in ‘Broken Bow.’ It also added a bit of humour onto the end of another another dollop of tension and exploring of ‘new’ civilisations from the Enterprise writing staff.

So lets get one thing straight first – last week’s mammoth ‘Dear Doctor’ really was mammoth – to be honest, I doubt another episode will surpass it this season. It seemed like one of those gems of an episode that has everything it needs to make it special, but won’t be bettered for a while. Well, for me certainly, this week’s offering confirmed that theory, as this was a story that seemed like something to fill a gap in a schedule. OK, that seems a bit harsh, but it makes ‘Dear Doctor’ stand out for its quality at least. Enough waffle – what did I think?

First off – Reed got a cold. Brilliant! I laughed at this, and then it was even followed up on a little later in the episode with the old hat Klingon smell problem being met head on by an anxious Hoshi - great to see her on an away mission again after ‘Fight or Flight’ - and the, perhaps equally offended T’Pol, whom each episode shows development normally seen as good. However the trouble with this Vulcan is that she is becoming less and less Vulcan-like each episode (finding smells offensive? Pleasance being felt in the decon room? What? ) Unfortunately for Phlox, however, whom determines Reed has a cold, his great role in ‘Dear Doctor’ has again been reduced back to his two-dimensional comic (if you could call it that this week) role. Oh well, it is an ensemble – at least the away team personnel had something interesting to do.

As Archer mentioned in this episode, this is the third time that Enterprise has run into Klingons. I have before commented on how this failed ‘Klingon first contact’ has been more of a non-event than the solar eclipse of '99 was, but the actual development of sour relations between humans and Klingons is being represented as a drawn out process – this episode helped to spell out that relations between the two, of course, are not rosy, and this is explained in an interesting scene where Archer learns how to be Klingon. Basically, we learn everything we already know from years of TNG, DS9 and Voyager (I had pleasure shouting at the television, "I know the Klingons have a warrior mentality!!") We are told that the Klingons don’t trust humans no matter what happened during the pilot – in fact they seem more bothered about the dishonour of humans saving them than this Temporal Cold War malarkey. Whatever the case, Klingons are nasty, they are Enterprise's enemies – I don’t think we need anymore set-up in the future. Though obviously, after years of seeing Klingons in Star Trek I'd be just as happy not to see them again!

So what else happened this week? A couple of nice development points to be noted on the away team – number one (the most obvious one), photon torpedoes. Nice mention, perhaps too obvious – are we really meant to believe that Klingons had this technology before us? Well, the Xyrillians had holo-technology before (in fact, the Klingons have that now as well…) Number two, another quite obvious one – the evolving of the targ (I can see that being a staple in Klingon culture in the future as much as the evolving of the Klingon forehead). This little CGI monstrosity made me jump when I saw it – which was great, the Klingons eat these things after all, and it does have to fit into their culture after all, therefore it being grotesque helps. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the targ is a big improvement over the dressed-up warthog TNG used years ago. There, that was easy. Final development point (and probably the most important one) was the Hoshi/T’Pol friendship. In ‘Broken Bow,’ these two could have stared each other to death, yet here, Hoshi’s newfound open-mindedness (regarding away missions) and T’Pol’s gradual humanisation led to a scene where T’Pol calms Hoshi down (though unfortunately it did seem a bit too convenient – luckily it’s the characterisation here that’s more important. )

Well, other than the aforementioned, there really wasn’t a lot of anything else to praise the episode with – to me the plot was uninteresting, and the way that Enterprise was going to be damaged if it went any lower into the atmosphere, thus leaving the away team stranded, was a complete rehash of the dangers of landing a shuttlepod in the wind during ‘Strange New World.’ This dull repetition did the episode no favours – it was only the above points that seemed to keep it fresh. In fact, even though progress was made on the bad-relations-with-the Klingons front, the fact that this was their third time in Enterprise (and about their forty-squillienth in Star Trek overall), I couldn’t help but feel like we’d done it all before. There was tension in the end, as mentioned, but with three regular characters trying to save themselves five minutes before the end of an episode, I think it’s quite obvious what’s going to happen. And of course, not giving Travis anything to do (I believe him to be the new Harry Kim) doesn’t help – in fact even with the absence of him, I think Porthos has had more lines than him this season!

Final Opinion
Nice developments, though cute small things don’t make an hour of entertainment.

Rating: 6.5/10